Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for March 2012.

Hilton HHonors announces Q2 double your points or miles promotion

As Deals We Like and View From the Wing have already posted, Hilton announced their second quarter 2012 promotion this morning offering either double points or double airline miles for stays April 1 to June 30, 2012. Registration is required and once you pick either double points or double miles, your selection cannot be changed…

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Amenity Kit Review: Air Tahiti Nui Poerava Business Class (March 2012)

Fellow blogger and very, very frequent flyer The Mr. Pickles generously gave me two Air Tahiti Nui kits he picked up on his recent trip with the airline and I offer my review of the Poerava Business Class offering below for this installment of Amenity Kit Reviews. For a better description of each category and…

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Delta’s Trip Extras, Virgin to PDX, Southwest’s Q1, DCA slot war, Google Flight Search & Hyatt’s TV technology

In other airline, hotel and travel industry news last week… Delta Air Lines introduced new ancillary options available at booking called Trip Extras. The initial offerings are priority boarding starting at $9 per segment, a mileage booster starting at $29 for 1,000 miles (terrible value!) and a 24-hour Wi-Fi pass for $12. Since Delta’s own…

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Incredible airline nostalgia: Freeman of the Air certificates

Knowing I collect airline memorabilia, one of my readers contacted me last week and asked if I might like a piece of her family’s history – two certificates issued to her recently departed grandmother bestowing “Freeman of the Air†rights for crossing the equator. My reader’s grandmother, originally from Australia, was married to a U.S.…

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Insight from Jeff Smisek’s United Airlines presentation this week

Earlier this week, United Airlines and many other carriers presented at the J.P. Morgan Aviation, Transportation & Defense Conference in New York, and once again, Jeff Smisek was very engaging as he’s willing to go off-script a bit adding more than what the bland presentation slides provide. I listened to the 40-minute audio of his…

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Vintage Airline Seat Map: Eastern Airlines Boeing 727-200 (177 seats)

It’s time again to feature a narrowbody aircraft for this installment of Vintage Airline Seat Maps and I’ve selected one of Eastern Airlines’ Boeing 727-200s seen flying the skies in the late 1980s. The carrier had four different configurations of the -200 and this one was their highest density bird in 1987 seating 177 passengers…

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Great United Airlines fleet information resource

Over the weekend, Henry Harteveldt – a top airline industry analyst – tweeted a link to a pretty incredible resource for United Airlines enthusiasts that details their entire fleet and includes information on each aircraft’s progress through interior modifications. It’s a nifty resource to bookmark and when you click into a specific aircraft type, it…

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United, American, Delta, Southwest, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa & Hilton, Starwood and Hyatt news

In other airline, hotel and travel industry news last week… Reservations and gate agents at United Airlines voted to remain unionized last week, marking a big win for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM). A total of 16,720 people voted – 8,305 in favor of representation, 5,865 against – and they represent…

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“Book the Cook” on Singapore Airlines

I’m very happy to soon be flying on my first Airbus A380 in Business Class with Singapore Airlines, and tonight took another look at my reservation as it shows up on their website. I’ve heard about the “Book A Cook” option that allows you to pre-select your meals, and this evening I did just that.…

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A United Airlines Captain made my day earlier this week

On Thursday, I dedicated a post to reviewing my positive experience flying United Airlines post-system conversion this past Wednesday, and wanted to dedicate another post to a very appreciated gesture from the Captain on one of my flights that day. I’m a huge fan of United’s Channel 9 air traffic control audio feed and I…

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